Welcome to November, Team SQ! There’s much to discuss after a wonderful weekend of sports but first, let’s congratulate the Kansas City Royals on their comeback last night, and their World Series win!
QUIPS FOR THIS WEEK
MLB
The World Series ended on Sunday night when the Kansas City Royals rallied with two runs in the 9th inning and five more in the 12th to beat the New York Mets in Game 5, 7-2. This is Kansas City’s first title in 30 years. Congrats, KC!
NFL
On Sunday night, the Denver Broncos powered their way past the Green Bay Packers 29-10 to remain undefeated this season.
Let’s talk more football. Sunday featured a shootout between the New York Giants and the New Orleans Saints, who won at home 52-49 in New Orleans, an Oakland Raiders victory over the New York Jets 34-20, and a very close victory for the Seattle Seahawks over the Dallas Cowboys at 13-12. Also of note, far too many star players were injured during Week 8.
Monday Night Football features the Carolina Panthers and the Indianapolis Colts at 8:30pm EST on ESPN.
College Football
There was plenty of drama during Week 9 starting with the wild ending of the Duke–Miami game. Long story short, Miami won, but the refs are suspended after missing calls at key moments in the game. In other Week 9 news, #3 Clemson looked strong in a win over NC State 56-40, and #9 Stanford got a narrow win over Washington State, as did #8 Notre Dame with a victory over #23 Temple 24-20.
In coaching news, Virgina Tech’s Frank Beamer announced his resignation from the team at the end of the season.
The top 5 rankings remain the same with Ohio State, Baylor, Clemson, LSU and TCU staying in the same order.
Games to watch this week include:
- Duke vs. North Carolina – Saturday at 12:00pm EST on ESPN2
- #17 FSU vs. #3 Clemson – Saturday at 3:30pm EST on ABC
- #5 TCU vs. Oklahoma State – Saturday at 3:30pm EST on FOX
- #4 LSU vs. #7 Alabama – Saturday at 8:00pm EST on CBS
NBA
Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors are ready for this new season. Curry had 53 points against the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night, including a 28-point 3rd quarter in which he outscored the entire Pelicans team to remain undefeated. Looks like the champs are back.
In other early NBA news, the Houston Rockets are 0-3 after losing to the Miami Heat on Sunday afternoon. Good news: it’s way early in the season. Bad news: the rest of the West could care less.
Finally, in New York Knicks-land, Carmelo Anthony dropped 37 points against the Washington Wizards on Saturday night in a win in the District.
Soccer
MLS playoffs began this week, and DC United, the Seattle Sounders, Montreal Impact, and Portland Timbers all advanced to the knockout rounds. DC United met the New York Red Bulls, the Portland Timbers met the Vancouver Whitecaps, Montreal Impact met Columbus Crew, and the Seattle Sounders met FC Dallas. They’ll play each other again in the second leg next Sunday, November 8th.
In Premier League soccer this Saturday, Arsenal beat Swansea City 3-0, Manchester United tied 0-0 against Crystal Palace, Manchester City beat Norwich City 2-1 to reclaim the top spot in the league, and Liverpool beat Chelsea 3-1. This is Chelsea’s sixth loss in eleven Premier League matches, which comes as a shock after last year’s championship. On Sunday, Sunderland lost 2-6 to Everton and Southampton beat newly promoted side AFC Bournemouth 2-0.
In La Liga, both Real Madrid and Barcelona took home wins against Las Palmas and Getafe, respectively.
Other
For the third time, the New Zealand All Blacks took home the Rugby World Cup championship. This year they beat out fierce rivals, Australia, for the win.
The always impressive runners in the NYC Marathon never cease to amaze. This years winners include: Stanley Biwott of Kenya for the men in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 34 seconds, and Mary Keitany of Kenya for the women in 2 hours, 24 minutes and 25 seconds.
Finally, college basketball is starting to heat up with preseason games — get excited!
JUST FOR FUN
Boom
5-year-old Rob Gronkowski’s piñata game was fierce
STORIES FOR INSIGHTS, COOL FACTOR + DEBATE
Goodbye, Grantland
ESPN is suspending the site
Sources speculate that the shut down began several months ago when Bill Simmons left — we’ll miss you!
This year in the NBA
What are we expecting?
The last recommendation on this list — “don’t draw conclusions after one game.” We’re expecting the unexpected
In memoriam
How the Minnesota Timberwolves are remembering Flip Saunders
They’ll wear shirts that say “We” (referencing their “We over Me” mantra) and “Flip” to warm up for the first month of the season
The SportsQuip 